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Saturday, May 26, 2018

School shootings: the cause and the cure

Documentary
2018 / 20 minutes RATING 7/10

Ray Comfort’s new 20-minute movie is worth watching for the first few minutes alone. Comfort interviews young people and asks them if they can call a school shooter evil…and they can’t! Our culture doesn’t want to condemn evil because then they would have to own up to the evil in their own hearts.

Comfort understands that, so we get to watch as he coaches and encourages these young people to own up to what they already know – that this was wicked, that sin is real, and that they themselves are sinners too.

When they own up to that, then, and only then, does Comfort tell them about the Jesus. As he puts it in one of his books, there is a need to first bring people to “Moses” – to God’s Law and to a realization we are sinners – before bringing them to Jesus, who saves us from sins.

Cautions
The only caution I’d offer is that at one point Comfort makes it sound as if the reason we should turn to God is to reduce school shootings. But, of course, we don’t worship God for the purpose of combatting school violence; we worship God because He is good, just, gracious, and our both our Creator and Redeemer, deserving of all praise.

Conclusion
Like every Ray Comfort film, this has an evangelistic intent, that becomes explicit about halfway through. Most Christians could benefit from seeing Comfort in action, confronting and encouraging a world that doesn’t believe sin exists, to own up to the fact that they themselves are sinners.